Originally posted by Jimmysil
Hi all
This weekend I made of the mistake of listening to Guns 'n Roses appetite for destruction on vinyl.
I could not believe how good it sounded, I couldn't stop tapping my toes.
The reason I say it was a mistake, because it makes cds on my onkyo dvd player sound a little bright. .
Having recently sold my arcam alpha 7 cd player due to the fact that a comparison with the onkyo showed not enough of a difference to warrant keeping the arcam.
But now I am wondering if there is a reasonable priced cd player, which gives a vinyl like sound.
I understand rega cd players and maybe some older marantz. May fit the bill.
Any one got any ideas or suggestions?
Regards
James
The Guns and Roses CD doesnt sound as good as the Vinyl, infact I dont think it sounds as good as the Cassette
and thats very scary.
I flirted with the idea of giving up all my vinyl some time ago, then bought an Oracle Delphi which did fantastic things with Jazz, but never set my toes tapping. So I started thinking about selling the vinyl again.
Then someone on the Forum suggested that a secondhand Roksan Xerxes would restore my faith. I was sceptical, but committed the sin of buying one without ever listening (my reasoning : if I'm not happy I can sell it again).
From the moment I played the first album, I couldnt have made a better choice (and using an RB300 arm and 1980s AT cartridge which arrived with the deck).
Then I put some cds on
this is on a system that I have been more than happy with for a while now (Marantz CD17 front end). The turntable stomped all over the CD player and danced on its laser beam.
A well set up vinyl spinner that fits the music you like (this was £350.00 off ebay
) runs rings round a CD player, nothing comes close. I cant vouch for the accuracy of tone etc, but it sounds so effortless, tight bass, deft imaging, toe tapping, dynamic...................Im going to start buying vinyl again, hell, it even plays some of the moth eaten, mold covered s/h stuff I bought 10 years ago and makes them shine.
So I have had a change of heart, if I could, I would throw out all the CDs and swap them all for Vinyl. Its such an about turn for me.
The CD player is a Marantz CD17, still a Hi FI world favourite and an £800.00 player when it was new and it was trashed by an almost 20 year old turntable, with its original arm and a middle of the road Audio Tech Cartridge. Its never even been serviced.
I always subscribed to the idea that a cheap turntable would never compete with a cheap CD player, but TTs have evolved since digital tried to consign them to the analogue graveyard, so maybe this is a new dawn for the old liquorice pizza, even if its only a short day.
HiFi + had a review of a CD player that 'got close' to vinyl, but at a high cost. I think it was around 5K give or take a few hundred.
My advice: never play vinyl again, avoid listening to friends systems etc.
Then you will forget about all those dynamics and rythmn, the clear effortless treble.
Try, instead to concentrate on the downsides; the dust, the clicks, scratches, replacement cartridges and belts.
But every so often you will remember just how good that old fashioned analogue sounded and all you will have left will be an ancient carbon cleaning brush, hidden away in the side board drawer, because you didnt have the heart to just throw it in the bin